With the iPhone, you can shoot high-quality and colorful videos that will be indistinguishable from professional videos. To amaze viewers and showcase your skills in all their glory, follow these tips.
Choosing a program for filming
The standard iPhone video recording software has limited functionality and will not help you make a cool video. Better to replace it and download a more advanced program, paid or free. The number of options and settings will grow exponentially.
You can select one of the following programs:
- Filmic Pro
- ProMovie Recorder
- Any other from the AppStore.
Filmic Pro is a rather expensive but very advanced program for creating video on a mobile phone. It will allow you to manually adjust the exposure, focus the camera, fix the white balance, program various modes, choose the aspect ratio of the frame, use the markup for the correct composition, set the frame rate.
There are also cheaper alternatives that are suitable for beginners. This includes ProMovie Recorder +.
Optional equipment
For really cool videos, one smartphone is not enough. Shaking hands will quickly ruin the video. Cinematic smoothness of the picture can be achieved with special accessories:
- Tripod
- Stabilizer
- Holder.
So, for static shooting, a tripod is very useful. You can choose any, adjusting the height to your needs. Not all tripods come with iPhone mounts. Better to get a special holder like the Square Jellyfish right away. Both the tripod and the holder will cost about $ 50.
If you are planning a dynamic shooting, a stabilizer will help to avoid shaking, which will ruin all frames. It costs a little more than a tripod, but is indispensable for videos shot on the go. Prepare about $ 100.
The most important thing is to resort to techniques and tricks that will help you make your video really high quality.
First, don't overuse the zoom. Software zoom degrades the video quality dramatically. The picture in the picture becomes grainy, loses sharpness. Use this function as little as possible, only when the need arises.
If there is a need to zoom in on a particular subject, it is better to approach it and shoot from a shorter distance. Another option is to buy an optical zoom lens. With its help, you can zoom in on the image without losing quality.
You can buy a suitable lens on the Apple website. Here are a selection of different lenses from partners of the company. Some include several different lenses with different lens types, including 10x and 15x zoom.
It is also important to choose a good external microphone, because the video contains not only the image, but also the sound track. Unfortunately, the iPhone's built-in microphone doesn't allow for high quality audio recording. An external sound recording device will help to reduce the amount of noise, improve the sound quality, volume, and its clarity. Some microphones attach directly to the iPhone. Others, like Rode smartLav +, can be hooked onto clothes thanks to the cable. You can choose the most convenient format.
Technique
When shooting video on iPhone, do not forget about the general, universal rules for filming video:
- use the rule of thirds and shoot only on the grid.
- Don't forget about lighting. The iPhone shoots well in daylight, but the video will be grainy and blurry in the dark.
- Focus on the important subject for shooting.
- Shoot a series of shorter videos instead of one long video, using different angles. Then glue the pieces together to give the video some dynamics.
Special editing programs
After the end of the shooting, the work on the video is not finished. It's important to keep working in the video editor. With its help, you can turn even poorly filmed video into interesting videos.
It is important to show both creativity and knowledge of technical nuances. It is quite easy to learn how to mount fragments correctly, add effects, apply corrective tools, especially if you download a special program. If you're just getting started with video editing, Apple's free iMovie app is for you. There are all the basic settings, functions for editing and editing video on the phone. Add the right music to add more impact to your footage.
If the capabilities of this simple program are not enough, use the more advanced Filmmaker Pro editor. This is a paid program with a free trial version. The full version costs 429 rubles per month or 2450 rubles per year.
Shooting tips
To the above, you can add the following basic tips:
- Turn on airplane mode to avoid distracting calls and messages while filming;
- Don't use manual zoom;
- Lock focus and exposure by pinching the screen with your finger;
- Don't forget to edit the video, even if it seems like the initial version is very successful.
Now videos shot on smartphones, especially on iPhones, are becoming more popular and are gradually replacing content created by professional cameras. Even the low quality of the video does not interfere with such popularity. However, that doesn't mean you can post shaky, grainy vertical videos and hope for thousands of views. Care for quality and a professional approach will bring both viewers and popularity.
It is enough to remember a few rules in order to shoot a video that you will not be ashamed to upload to the network. First of all, do not shoot video while holding your phone. Use special tripods or holders to improve the quality of your clips.
You can mount the tripod on a budget adapter or use a tripod for a photo and camera. You can also make the mount yourself. If you don't have a tripod or mount at hand, hold your smartphone with both hands. Fix your elbows on a table or parapet. As you move, rest your elbows on your chest, trying to reduce rocking.
The 2x optical zoom can be applied without sacrificing image quality only on the iPhone 7 Plus. If you have an older model, you will have to approach the subject yourself.
In the dark, use special lighting devices (you can choose the cheapest ones) or even ordinary table lamps. They will not give glare on the skin or various objects.
It's better to record audio separately, even if it seems that the microphone in the smartphone is quite good. Such a microphone records a lot of unnecessary sounds around. Even on the closest recording, voices from the next room, the rustle of the operator, and acoustic noise will be very well heard. A second iPhone can be used instead of additional equipment. Just clip it over the sound source to keep it out of frame, and then record the signal with your regular voice recorder application. The main thing is to correctly join the audio track with the video in the future. Then you can get a high-quality sound.
To lock and lock focus and exposure in the standard Camera application, hold your finger on the main subject for a few seconds. When the lock is activated, you can start shooting. If, when the lighting in the frame changes or when new objects appear, the camera begins to re-focus, the frame will be lost and the video sequence will become uneven, dark or overexposed.
